Children sleep during a midday break at a nursery in the Polish capital. Polish nurseries do not have enough places for young children and experts say the shortage is discouraging women from having babies.

A three-week-old female Masai giraffe, named Shani, stands beside her mother, Naema, at the Los Angeles Zoo. Giraffes communicate with one another through posturing, movement, carriage of their tails and vocalization, which includes moos, bellows and whistles.

Khagendra Thapa, who is expected to be named the world's shortest man when he turns 18 next month, stands with Miss Nepal beauty pageant winners during a news conference. The Nepal Tourism Board has nominated Thapa and the beauty pageant winners as goodwill ambassadors to promote tourism in Nepal.

A family stays in a temporary shelter after their house was one of several demolished by officials. The demolition was stopped after a judge issued a temporary restraining order in favor of the settlers.

The harvest moon is seen on the night of the autumnal equinox from the coastal city of Netanya in northern Israel. The harvest moon, which refers to the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, arrived on the same night this year.

Men in period costume nap adjacent to a restored 1930s London Underground train in the disused Aldwych station, which was used as an air raid shelter during the Blitz of World War II. Faithfully re-created to give a glimpse of 1940s London, it will soon be open to the public to mark the 70th anniversary of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain.

Private and public sector workers cross the Pont de Sully, one of the many bridges spanning the River Seine, as they protest plans to raise the retirement age. France faces a further round of rail and air traffic disruption as trade unions seek to mobilize millions more to protest the proposed change.

A man at a printing facility reads a newspaper announcing the death of Colombian rebel commander Jorge "Mono Jojoy" Briceno. An assault by Colombian troops killed the militant leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in what defense officials described as the "hardest blow ever" against the leftist guerrillas.

Egyptian writer, feminist activist, physician and psychiatrist Nawal El Saadawi receives her Doctor Honoris Causa from the National Autonomus University of Mexico from Jose Narro at the Palacio de Mineria.

Opposition supporters attend a campaign rally with local candidates for the national assembly in Los Teques, Venezuela. The opposition is expected to make significant gains in the nation's parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Laborers pull a hand cart loaded with bricks and sand past a billboard advertising the upcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. More nations delayed their teams' arrival as organizers worked vigorously to address security and health concerns that have caused several top athletes to withdraw.

People usher in the autumnal equinox at the Kokino megalithic observatory. The 3,800-year-old observatory, which used stone monuments -- megaliths -- to track the movement of the sun, was discovered in 2001 and is ranked as the fourth-oldest observatory in the world, according to NASA.

Volunteers Susan Crowther, left, and Justine Sanderson keep stranded whales moist until they can be taken back to the water. Only 24 of several dozen pilot whales stranded on the remote northern New Zealand beach survived a stormy first night.

Residents outside their homes with a campaign picture of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at 23 de Enero neighborhood in Caracas. After a bad year for Chavez, Venezuela's opposition has its best chance in years to regain a national voice in Sunday's election.

The transfer case containing the remains of Army Chief Warrant Officer Matthew G. Wagstaff of Utah arrives at Dover Air Force Base. The Department of Defense announced his death in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan.

A worker lights a lantern for the Mid-Autumn Festival at Thean Hou Temple in Kuala Lumpur. Chinese worldwide celebrate the festival on the 15th day of the eighth month on the lunar calendar. The festival began as a harvest moon celebration in ancient China and it also marks the overthrow of the Mongol rulers during the Yuan Dynasty.

This image provided by the Utah Museum of Natural History shows an artist's reconstruction of the Utahceratops. Scientists said Wednesday they've discovered fossils of two new dinosaur species in the southern Utah desert, closely related to the triceratops, including one with 15 horns on its large head.

Plush bedbugs are displayed at the Bed Bug University North American Summit. The two-day conference of bedbug experts and pest control workers featured seminars from researchers and vendors displaying the latest products focused on bedbug detection, elimination and prevention.

People look at giant lanterns displayed as part of the Mid-Autumn Festival held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar; a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest.

Inside a bus, ultra-Orthodox Jews protect themselves from Palestinian rioters outside, in Jerusalem's Old City. Violence erupted after a 32-year-old Palestinian laborer was killed by a private security guard watching over Jewish families in the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem. During the man's funeral, a mob of protesters set tires on fire, smashed the windows of several buses and called for revenge.

Union members clash with police in the front of Romanian government headquarters during a protest against the government. Some 10,000 union members demanded that planned austerity measures be canceled, that civil servants' salaries be brought back to the level they were in December 2009 and that the minimum salary be increased by 180 euros.

Palestinians vandalize a car outside Jerusalem's Old City. Violence erupted after a 32-year-old Palestinian laborer was killed by a private security guard watching over Jewish families in the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem. During the man's funeral, a mob of protesters set tires on fire, smashed the windows of several buses and called for revenge.

Kazakhstan horsemen perform at a circus to celebrate the Chinese traditional Mid-autumn Festival in China's Shandong province. Acrobats from several countries perform circus acts for citizens and tourists on the occasion of the Mid-autumn Festival and National Day.

Bishops fold their hands in prayer during the opening Mass of the annual bishops gathering in Fulda Cathedral. Some 67 German bishops and cardinals are meeting for four days to discuss issues of religion, culture and political life.

Brian Hirch of Protect a Bed wears a bedbug hard hat during the first North American Bed Bug Summit. The two-day meeting will host 14 of the nation's leading entomologist and bedbug specialists, along with a gathering of bedbug-industry-related vendors.

A television reporter does a report outside the media center at the United Nations headquarters. Heads of state and government are gathering this week at the U.N. for the Millennium Development Goals Summit.

A Greenpeace climber scales the anchor of a Chevron drill ship, the Stena Carron, during a protest off the Shetland Islands. Greenpeace campaigners are attempting to stop the oil platform from moving into position to begin deep-water drilling.

A Serbian motorcyclist rides the "Wall of Death" at a public fair west of Belgrade. Also known as the Motordrome, the attraction is a wooden cylinder ranging from 20 to 36 feet in diameter within which motorcyclists perform stunts.

A visitor studies an exhibit by photographer Manuel Pandalis at the Photokina imaging fair. The fair opens its doors Sept. 26, with about 1,250 exhibitors from 45 countries showing various aspects of photographing and imaging.

A girl wearing traditional attire bows to an idol during a Kumari Puja mass-worship ceremony at Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square. A total of 504 girls from across the country, all under 9 years old, gathered for the event.

Rioting residents of Hangberg throw rocks and gasoline bombs at police. More than 40 people were injured in clashes over housing as thousands of residents barricaded roads and attacked authorities who attempted to dismantle illegal structures.

A truck driver tries to stop his colleagues from clashing with the police during an anti-government rally. Over 2,000 truck drivers marched through central Athens to protest the government's plans to change work rules.

Damaged furniture and a wrecked car sit along a road near Veracruz in the aftermath of Hurricane Karl. Emergency workers reported that at least eight people had been killed by the hurricane in three Mexican states.

A worker cleans trains belonging to the German railway operator Deutsche Bahn as preparations are underway for the InnoTrans fair. The international trade fair for transport technology, innovative components, vehicles and systems runs from Sept. 21-24.

Mexico's Tomas Rojas, right, lands a blow to Japan's Kohei Kono in the ninth round of their 12-round WBC super flyweight title bout in Saitama, near Tokyo. Rojas won the title with a unanimous decision.

Supporters and resident artists of the Tacheles artists' collective prepare to march in protest against the possible closure of the collective. The new owner of the site hopes to redevelop the property.

Indian soldiers take part in rescue operations after a freight train on the wrong track slammed into a stationary passenger locomotive at Bhaderwah rail station in Madhya Pradesh state, 235 miles south of New Delhi.

The Week in Pictures | Sept. 20-26, 2010

Each week we bring you the best images from around the world in our Week in Pictures photo gallery.

We have images from Fashion Week in Milan, Madrid and London; children sleeping at noon in a day-for-night nursery in Warsaw; and the sweetness of a three-week-old Masai giraffe with her protective mother at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Counterpointing these serene images, we have a Palestinian youth wielding a rock against heavily-armed Israeli riot police patrolling the streets of East Jerusalem; a worker inspecting a giant drill bit at the site of the frenetic rescue in Chile where 33 miners remain trapped deep underground; and the burnout of a NASCAR championship winner in Delaware.

We’ll meet the world’s shortest man standing with Miss Nepal beauty pageant winners; a Bulgarian Orthodox priest at a demonstration in Sofia; and we’ll stop at a photographic exhibition in Berlin and an archeological museum beneath the streets of Krakow, Poland.

From Japan, we have a knockout — just check out the right hook Mexico’s Tomas Rojas delivers to Japan’s Kohei Kono in the ninth round of their 12-round WBC super-flyweight title bout.

Photographers captured the aftermath of two trains colliding in India, the damage from Hurricane Karl in Mexico, a suspected Colombian drug trafficker known as “Beto Marin” during his extradition to the U.S., and millions of dollars in counterfeit pharmaceuticals being burned in a junkyard in China.

This is just a glimpse of the variety and depth of this week’s images from around the world. Enjoy the journey.